The proposed research focuses on the modification of intellectual aging decrements. Previous research suggests that poor intellectual performance is not necessarily an indicator of a biologically-based deficit, but may reflect an experiential deficit. Female elderly subjects (N equals 75; ages 65 and over) will participate in three phases of the experiment: Training, Immediate Posttest, and Delayed Posttest. Training consists in strengthening covert verbal self-monitoring of behavior via a modeling and overt-to-covert fading procedure. Five training groups (N equals 15 each) are formed randomly: three instructional groups (Cognitive Guidance, Anxiety Coping, Combined Training) and two control conditions (Unspecific Training, No Training). Training utilizes complex reasoning problems (Letter Sets Test). Facilitation effects are determined both for problems of the same (parallel form) and a different nature (Figure Classification, Mathematics Aptitude). Thus both near and far transfer effects of training are examined. In addition, facilitation effects will be determined both immediately after training and after a two-week delay. The outcome will have direct implications for a re-orientation of research and theory about intellectual aging, and underscore the need for the development of intervention programs with the aged.